Logistics Development Group plc
(“LDG” or the “Company“)
Final Results for year ended 30 November 2022
Logistics Development Group plc, the AIM listed investing company, announces its audited final results for the year ended 30 November 2022.
Full year 2022 Results Summary
- For the year ended 30 November 2022, the Company reported an underlying EBIT1 of £1.1m (2021: EBIT of £84.6m, before exceptional income of £0.1m) and a profit before tax of £1.1m (2021: profit before tax of £84.7m).
- Following the disposal of GreenWhiteStar Acquisitions Limited and its subsidiaries in the prior year, the Board, in conjunction with its investment manager DBAY, reviewed a number of investment opportunities and came to the conclusion that there were more attractive opportunities to create shareholder value outside the narrow logistics focused investing policy adopted in December 2020. Additionally, the Board were aware that the Company’s shares had been trading at a significantly discounted level to the amount of available cash per ordinary share. Furthermore, the Board noted that the Company’s capital structure required attention.
- Therefore, on 14 January 2022, the Company announced the publication of a circular containing details of proposed changes to the Company’s investing policy (“Investing Policy”), the undertaking of a share buyback programme (the “Buyback”) and a reduction of capital.
- On 31 January 2022, at a general meeting of the Company, the Shareholders gave their approval for both a change to the Investing Policy and implementation of the Buyback. At the same general meeting, the Board approved steps for a reduction in capital to create available distributable reserves.
- The change to the Investing Policy was aimed at enabling the Company to take advantage of a wider sphere of opportunities than those offered previously from the original logistics focused policy. The revised Investing Policy provides for investments primarily in undervalued companies.
- Pursuant to the Buyback, the Company acquired 140,441,180 ordinary shares in its own capital at an average price of £0.157 per share between 25 February 2022 and 6 April 2022.
- Over the last financial year, we had the opportunity to welcome Peter Nixon as a director to the Board, he is an experienced chartered accountant and was appointed to the Board from 9 December 2021, replacing Saki Riffner as a representative of DBAY.
The details of the two investments made during the period are listed below.
- On 7 March 2022, LDG acquired the entire share capital of Fixtaia Limited (“Fixtaia”), a company incorporated in Jersey, for £1.00. Investments of £30.0m and £3.0m were made in Fixtaia on 21 March 2022 and 30 November 2022 respectively. Via this investment in Fixtaia, LDG indirectly held an equity interest of 1.74% in CareTech Holding PLC (“CareTech”), acquired at a cost of £13.1m, which includes £883k of investment transaction fees, from March 2022 until September 2022, when this investment was disposed of. The disposal of 1,974,130 ordinary shares in CareTech for an aggregate consideration of £14.8m achieved a profit of £1.7m.
- During the period, the Company acquired, via its investment in Fixtaia, a total of 11,457,000 ordinary shares in Finsbury Food Group plc (AIM:FIF) (“Finsbury Food”), representing 8.79% of its issued share capital, for an aggregate consideration of £9.1m.
Commenting on the results, Adrian Collins, Chairman of Logistics Development Group plc said: “We are pleased to report a year of progress for LDG during which we have evolved our investment policy and have since made a number of attractive investments. As we look ahead whilst there may be choppy waters, we are confident we can navigate these and deliver attractive returns.”
1 Underlying EBIT is an alternative performance measure (see Note 3) and is defined as profit/loss before interest and tax adding back exceptional items.
Download full report below
